New bids sought for Rogers Road Community Center

Buy Photos
The Rogers Road Community Center was closed last week because fire code regulations. Reverend Campbell and David Caldwell moved out all of the stuff in the center on Tuesday with nobody else there to help them.

Share

Bids came in too high for a redesigned community center in the Rogers Road neighborhood, so Orange County commissioners are headed back to the drawing board.

With an original price tag for the center of nearly a million dollars, Orange County Commissioner Renee Price said the bidding process will be reopened until those responsible for paying for the center’s construction — Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County — receive a plan that’s within their budgets.

The Rogers Road neighborhood, a historically black and low-income community in Chapel Hill, housed the county’s landfill for 41 years.

In exchange, the municipalities promised the neighborhood a community center and infrastructure upgrades.

The previous center — located in a 70-year-old home off Purefoy Drive — was shut down Aug. 11, 2012 for violating fire and safety codes.

Thompson also said the timing of the project was to the municipalities’s advantage — there aren’t many projects on the market at this time so there will be more interest from contractors.

Chapel Hill Town Councilman Lee Storrow said he agreed construction should begin this year and said he hoped that within a couple of years, the county and towns would be celebrating the opening of the brand new center.

“It’s something that should have happened 40 years ago,” said Storrow, also a member of the task force.

“It’s imperative that we move quickly and responsibly to finish this project.”

city@dailytarheel.com

The Daily Tar Heel welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic.